I remember well. This is funny. There was a stage which ended on a descent. It was the highest road in Europe – they made a little extra road to make it higher [Col de la Bonnette]. I was watching you and your positioning before the climb, then looked through the results at the finish to see where you were. That evening I told the Lotto team manager, Marc Sergeant, that you were a rider we should sign.
With your experience and what you had physically, and you being from Africa, it gave me faith in you as a rider for the future. I said that you were a rider to watch, that we should get you on the team, and that you were going to go somewhere. It’s easy to say that now but at the time I saw with you being new to the peloton… What people don’t realise is that without experience, the positioning before the climbs when you first go to race in Europe as a pro is far more difficult than they think. I thought you were pretty good!